The case against Jeffery Trevino, who goes on trial Monday on charges that he killed his wife, relies on circumstantial evidence, leaving the defense room to introduce alternative theories to explain why she ended up dead in the Mississippi River.
That's the view of many veteran defense attorneys, who point to aspects of the high-profile Kira Steger case as helpful to a defense trying to cast doubt on the evidence.
"Copious amounts" of blood evidence was recovered from the St. Paul home Trevino, 39, rented with Steger, 30, police say. But no one is known to have witnessed or overheard an attack on Steger or someone dumping her body, which is likely to play in the defense's favor.
"Typically, in a homicide case, what you're trying to do is blame someone else," Joseph Daly, emeritus professor at Hamline University's School of Law, said of defense strategy.
Trevino is charged in Ramsey County District Court with two counts of second-degree murder for allegedly killing Steger. The case captured local and national attention when Steger failed to show up for work on Feb. 22 at Delia's, a clothing retailer at the Mall of America where she was co-manager.
Her body was found May 8 in the river in downtown St. Paul, so badly decomposed that dental records were used to identify her.
Trevino will be the first man to stand trial in a string of high-profile attacks in Minnesota on women this year that include at least one other woman allegedly killed and dumped by a jilted lover — Mandy Matula, who remains missing.
Steger is among the 31 women, men and bystanders killed in Minnesota so far this year in domestic homicides, said Liz Richards, executive director of the Minnesota Coalition for Battered Women.
